Eckert ‘surprised’ by Garcia response to FIFA report
Joachim Eckert, the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s independent ethics committee, has admitted he is “surprised” by Michael Garcia’s criticism of his 42-page report on the investigation into the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
FIFA ethics investigator Garcia attacked the report, which was published on Thursday, and said he would appeal against it.
Garcia, a former US Attorney issued said the document “contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the investigatory chamber’s report”.
“I intend to appeal this decision to the FIFA Appeal Committee,” he said.
Eckert was surprised by Garcia’s response, telling Reuters: “Usually you would first speak to each other internally if you don’t like something. I have been trying to contact him.”
Eckert’s report cleared Russia and Qatar of corruption in their winning bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
The document said no proof was found of bribes or voting pacts in an investigation that was hampered by a lack of access to evidence and uncooperative witnesses.
On Thursday, FIFA issued a statement in response to Garcia’s criticisms in which it said only: “We take note of reports mentioning a statement issued by Michael Garcia, chairman of the investigatory chamber of the FIFA ethics committee.
“For the time being, FIFA has not been officially notified of this statement and is therefore not in a position to further comment on this matter at this stage. We will follow up in due time.”
World football’s governing body had previously said the Garcia report could not be published in full for legal reasons.
The American’s intervention means he has effectively dismissed the conclusions that FIFA has drawn from his two-year investigative process.
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